What i heard is Kenyatta bought the land in central and elsewhere at 5 pounds an acre. Thats why that family owns so much land.

Legally would that be called grabbing since he paid for it?

My main argument is that the Kikuyu tribe was in part of what is today rift valley long before the British displaced them into concentration camps. They are records to prove this.

John:
Maybe history in Kenya has not been taught honestly. If you look at this issue of land in Kenya, how did it first begin? It began with colonialism when the British started taking the land from the Kikuyus. The Kikuyu sat on the country’s most fertile land and the British wanted it for their own commercial purposes. This is how the central highlands got renamed the “white highlands” (after the British started stealing the land and occupying it).

Then, this forced land grabbing by the British, is what ultimately sparked the Mau Mau movement. The Kikuyu were forced to fight for their land. However, had any other tribal group in Kenya sat on the most fertile land, they too would have been forced to fight for it like the Kikuyu. It just so happened to be that the best land was in central province and so the fight began there.

Then at independence, Kenyatta was supposed to get the land that was illegally grabbed by the British and redistribute back to the Kikuyus who had been kicked out of that land, but he ended up keeping most of it for himself and his cronies. So, in fact, one could argue that it is the landless Kikuyu peasants today who have been the most aggrieved. First, their land was stolen by the British, then it was stolen by Kenyatta.

After Kenyatta grabbed his portion, the standard issue on land became, “willing buyer, willing seller” . i.e. if you had the money, you could buy land in any part of the country you wished & this is what happened. Kikuyu business people started buying land in the rift valley to farm and they paid for it through this enacted land policy.

So, outside of the corruption of land grabbing, which Moi, Kenyatta & all those guys have engaged in, for the vast majority of Kenyans who own land, theirs has been acquired through this policy of willing buyer, willing seller.

Therefore, I don’t understand how people can claim to have rights to ancestral land in post-independent Kenya. Nobody is going to give those Kalenjins free land (even Moi didn’t give them free land. He just took for himself & for his cronies, like Kenyatta).

So, the fight should be against those few politicians and their cronies who stole the land and got it for free (just like the British had done a generation before). It should not be against the small Kikuyu farmer who owns a 10-acre plot and who paid for it through his sweat and hard work.

The real criminals have been the political leaders.

First of all British colonial records show Kikuyus were in what is todays Rift Valley long before Independence. Infact a huge portion of the Kikuyu ethnic group is of mixed maasai heritage(NYOKABI and Co). This is only possible if the Kikuyus were in the plains which are in todays rift valley.

During the emergency the British moved the Kikuyu’s into concentration camps and after independence they got resettled in their previous lands.

Secondly no Kalenjin was forcibly removed from his land and replaced with a Kikuyu. Furthmore Kalenjin tribes as well as the Maasai were nomadic for a very long time and had small populations because of this lifestyle. It is only when they started farming their populations swelled giving them an interest and need for land for farming.

Lastly the Kalenjin group have had President Moi for 24 years why didnt he sort out the land injustices, simply because they were none.

If anyone has suffered injustices it is the foreign ethnic groups who have been killed and displaced every 5 years in Rift Valley.

In 2007 600,000 Kenyans most of whom were Kikuyu or Kisii were displaced If that is not Injustice what is.

So please tell me what these historical injustices are.

KE thought this blurb might interest you

However, despite Kenyans anger & swearing never to vote for the current political crop again, come 2012 I am sure Kenyans will vote for the same same people back to power & if we are not carefull, another post election violence will take place.

How many Commissions have been formed by our Government to investigate Corruption issues & what was done about the findings? Why do some people in our Government own big lands I hear almost half of Kenyan land while we have IDP’S?

The Government will never do any thing about those responsible for the post poll violence. Even if a local tribunal was formed to look into this issue? only the people in the grass root level will be prosecuted. The high & mighty will not & can never be touched. The names of the people in the envelope are also the same people in power. Should we expect them to prosecute themselves & jail themselves.

I think option 2 is what they are pursuing. They are still in the process of re-aligning the security forces (I think) so that they can be better prepared for 2012. I said two years ago that this process would take time. I predicted two – three years.

See link here:http://allafrica.com/stories/200807200001.html

The army general who was in charge of the western command, which included Nakuru & the RV was “forced” out and replaced by a Brigadier S. Karanja.

The Kikuyus and kambas now control the security forces and if you are any of these men, can you envision a scenario whereby either Raila or Ruto ascends to power and not only becomes your “boss”, but also ends up controlling the army? The ICC is irrelevant when it comes to this issue of security re-alignments.

I can’t see these guys “allowing” either Raila or Ruto anywhere near the center of power or anywhere near the guns.

The only question I have is how far will the Kalenjins be willing to fight this time and how brutal will the response from the security agencies be? because both sides are fighting for power.

This is not about justice. It’s about power.

Let’s be honest. In Kenya those who supported ODM and were happy to teach Kikuyu’s a lesson dont want anything to do with ICC or a special local tribunal or anything that means justice for the afflicted. To them all manner of reasons are being floated as to why it’s not wise to pursue justice for the perpetrators. Some of this include renewed fighting (threats) to justifying the actions as spontaneous (unintentional) or that the trials will be unfair (retribution).

Now you have indicated that what happened in Kenya was not large enough or serious enough to warrant ICC attention. At what point does ethnic cleansing or genocide become that. Is it when two people or 100 or 1Million or 100Million people are killed or displaced?

A second more damaging and potentially incriminating defence has been that the ICC should prosecute those who stole elections. This argument says it is because of stolen elections that Kikuyu’s were cleansed from RiftValley. The same people then say a local tribunal wouldn’t be fair despite assurances that the judges will be foreign including the prosecutor. Now that they have succeeded in blocking a local tribunal the next stage is to block the ICC from operating.

Now let’s examine some facts and some history. In 1992 Matiba claimed the election was stolen from him. He did not kill Kalenjins or ask them to be evicted from Nairobi or Central province and neither did he ask people to violently protest uprooting railways and destroying property. Many others notably Kikuyu’s and other pro democracy forces believed he had been robbed but they didnt pick up machetes to kill people.

In 1997 Kibaki was denied victory by systematic rigging by Moi. He chose to lodge an election petition which was rejected on a technicality. He chose the responsible way despite knowing the judiciary was biased against him. Both 1992 and 1997 Kikuyu’s faced ethnic cleansing in the infamous land clashes which then became tribal clashes which in 2008 became ethnic cleansing.

So there is a pattern by people from Rift Valley viewing Kikuyus as enemies who dont deserve to live there. So the so called post election violence is a recurrent event(habit). How should this be stopped (impunity)? There are perhaps three ways.

1. RiftValley MP’s take the lead and discourage violence as a means to achieving the so called historical injustices they have suffered. Here it is important to remember they had one of their own (Pres. Moi) in power for 24yrs. Plenty of time to correct the anomaly.

2. That Kikuyu’s or the govt of the day develope sufficient military deterrence. This would mean very serious violent retribution to anyone inciting or commencing violence so that violence becomes less attractive as a means to agitate for change.

3. That Kenya develope a credible judicial system to procure justice for all regardless of colour, creed, religion or tribe. (Legal and constitutional reforms).

Looking at those three options the first and the last are the preferred options. Violence is always an insufficient strategy because eventually the parties have to come to an agreement. Lets examine the contention that Kibaki stole elections.

First and foremost this is an unproved contention. Remember just before the elections ODM campaigned to have Kivuitu retained with all his commissioners citing experience. They got their wish. It was Kivuitu who declared Kibaki winner unlike their opponent who has a habit of declaring himself winner. Then they invited South African judge Kriegler who produced a report stating no one won or it was impossible to tell. He also revealed election malpractices also on the ODM side. So no one can claim one stole and the other didn’t. Finally those who claim that,- are now in the same govt they were fighting so hard for. NO RAILA NO PEACE well he is a co- president and the Ruto’s are ministers just like the PNU side. So ODM got their justice afterall. For those killed and displaced they havent got justice yet. Yet the children and women killed in Kiambaa were not responsible for rigging let alone the men.

This is why ICC is important. First it is not an ideal option but it’s symbolic value if it can put behind bars those who masterminded the violence. It will be a good deterrent to those who may have the proclivity to do so again. This will make it more difficult for future politicians to use violence as an option. After the ICC has taken up the cases Kenya can embark on a truth and reconciliation track but justice has to be done to stop this impunity.